Ipswich Town Delight
After 6013 days, Ipswich Town can finally walk away from an East Anglian meeting with the larger amount of points in their hands. Their delicious 3-1 win over their rivals Norwich City on Sunday 5th October, will not be forgotten about for a long time. Norwich, themselves, won’t ever forget about it, either, with what was supposed to be their own ‘Super’ Sunday, will now only be remembered as a fearful memory.
The scars that’ve been left are enough to tell you how much that 16-year unbeaten streak that’s now come to an end has hurt them. It’s hard to remember what a defeat to the Blue and Whites felt like.
It’s fair to say that two different outcomes are coming from this 90-minute battle on Sunday. The Canaries will hope that Liam Manning’s time is up, whereas, The Tractor Boys will wonder where to build Kieran McKenna’s statue. He was finally able to break the East Anglian derby curse and that Anglian pride is back in Suffolk.
Fans Impact
The fans would’ve felt that same pride too. And along with that, a feel of optimism – the hope and perhaps even the momentum, is there for Ipswich Town to try and now climb up the table to join high-flying Coventry, Middlesbrough, Leicester and even the unexpected faces of Preston, Stoke and QPR who currently all fill the automatic or play-off spots. What the team proved yesterday is its quality. It’s time to match that on the table now.
It’s a reality wake-up call for Ipswich Town and rather a reality check for the team across the border. The Board won’t just only monitor Liam Manning’s own performance. Ben Knapper, the Sporting Director, will also have the finger pointed at too. The lack of fuel and belly fire is what seemingly seems to be the case right-now with Norwich City, is down to his own accountability.
As we know though, the football management industry is a lot more ruthless compared to the life of a Sporting Director. The Manager is always going to be blamed for when results don’t go the expected way. Yet, there has to be a case for Knapper’s incompetence, the constant trip-ups, that’s led to this iconic 16-year unbeaten streak that gave them the bragging rights in the first place, that’s now come to an abrupt end.
I say abrupt – it was more of a bound-to-happen scenario. Norwich fans are numb to the pain already from not winning a game since the end of August, and not even picking up a single point since the 13th of September. Basically, if it was going to happen, then now was the most-expected time for it.
With an international break now upon us, it’s a useful time for the club to find Manning’s successor. If they fire the trigger this early though, then it must show how impatient Knapper is? Only recently has he now been at the club for two years and it could now be the third manager he shows the exit door too. Is the club slowly transitioning into the next Watford? That’s a club who hasn’t played Premier League football since 2022. And the same goes for Norwich too. You could make a claim that they have ‘Championship mid-table side’ pinned up against them, as their new title.
What can be said for the victorious side, is that it was rather a quiet Portman Road, rather than a noisy one. The home fans knew to be patient, to probably at times pinch themselves when looking at the 3-1 scoreboard. A sign of disbelief but also utter relief too, were the emotions for the Ipswich fans once Referee Thomas Kirk blew the full-time whistle.
It was certainly a day for the Tractor Boys to flex about. Both young and promising attackers: Jaden Philogene and Jack Clarke, showed-off their ex-Premier League expertise by being on the scoresheet. That was a statement of intent, itself, with Ipswich showing where they lie in the pecking order with their Norfolk rivals.
These two goals secured a rare three points in an East Anglian Derby, for Ipswich Town. Philogene’s unreal strike, joint with how meaningful Jack Clarke’s goal meant – will now throw any sort of memory of 19-year old Oscar Schwartau scoring his first goal of the season for the Canaries, right into the abyss. No one will want to bother to remember about it, or even care too, and it’ll certainly make a fun pub quiz question in 40-years or so from now.
The first goal of the game, coming from Ipswich Town defender Cédric Kipré, was a classic scramble goal with all eyes on who would win the 50/50 battle that he contested with Norwich Captain Kenny McLean, from when the ball from the corner went in. It was one of them goals that was scrappy, but meant so much more than that and if you didn’t think this was a derby before the game, then this goal signified that it most definitely was.
The Norwich fans would’ve detested that goal with every single bone in their body. That feeling of detest would’ve re-appeared when they saw the pantomime villain of the whole Sunday afternoon – Marcelino Núñez, who came on the pitch in the 75th minute, replacing Jens Cajuste. A player that was only once loved and adored by the Canaries two months ago up and down the county, is now an even bigger icon in the county of Suffolk after the Derby.
Being awarded with that title of being the icon of Ipswich Town doesn’t even come from a goal or an assist. It just comes from mainly him stepping on the pitch and daring to also become the first player since 2001 to climb over the border and join the enemy. The cherry-on-top to this certain ‘housery’ act that the Chilean midfielder was committing too, all happened after the game had finished. The ex-Norwich player grabbed the corner flag, waving it, celebrating this huge win, as if he had been at Ipswich all along and never made the jump in the first place.
Kieran McKenna will be hoping Núñez’s talents as that box to box midfielder will be as good as his efforts in his post-match celebration. It certainly helps if he does for him to be able to bring Town to that next level and to try and match that fantastic 21-game unbeaten run with the club, achieved when he was last in this league. It would certainly allow The Tractor Boys to begin to eye a rapid Premier League return.
As for the Canaries, well the question is this: Why didn’t they show up? Kipré’s 32nd minute goal probably proved how more bothered Ipswich were, compared to their rivals. Even before the match read a lot with how this game was going to potentially go. On Thursday night saw the player Kipré scrambled with, to score his goal – Kenny McLean, live on TNT Sports doing punditry for Aberdeen’s Europa Conference League game. The clear aim of the whole of last week should’ve been preparing mentally and physically for this huge East Anglian Derby, in order to protect the 16-year unbeaten streak.
It felt such a mediocre move from the club, to allow their own Captain to commit to media work. No one bats an eyelid if Norwich had won this game. But when you read the full-time score, then it feels all these small events are finer details that make up a bigger picture and not a nice one either.
Norwich made 14 new signings in what was a busy Summer window for them. Did anyone ever bother showing any of them new faces, previous iconic derby day winning moments? Seeing how their previous successors played and the exact emotion and workrate that’s needed in a dramatic game like this.
Timm Klose’s last-minute header in 2018 with the incredible run and assist from Grant Hanley to win the ball before it crossed the line. James Maddinson’s curled goal right around Bialkowski in 2017, being the only goal of the derby that day. Or even more up to date examples, like Jonathan Rowe’s second goal through the legs of Hladky in 2023.
These are all moments that secured and locked the pride within the club and the community. The same pride that converts to fuel in order to win and succeed. We don’t even think Liam Manning knows where the fuel pump is, at this point.
It’s deeply worrying for Norwich and it leaves Knapper and co, with extremely difficult decisions to be made and Manning to potentially be the first victim out of a re-arrangement in the hierarchy of controls.
For Ipswich Town, well it’s quite simple that the aim this season has to be promotion. There’s no excuses with just how good this team is. A derby day win is a huge statement for them to make and to now justify that by battling for the top spot.
